Hills Running Marathon In Brother’s Memory

[Wandering Eyes]

The memory of John Hills remains cherished in Lambourn and beyond, nearly five years after his death, and on Sunday the late trainer’s brother George–another member of the famous clan to ply his trade in the industry–will line up for the London Marathon to help fight the disease that claimed him (click here for fundraising page).

Novice runner Hills, well known on both sides of the Atlantic through his bloodstock insurance business, has flown home to Britain from his Lexington base to put himself through the pain barrier for Pancreatic Cancer UK.

“It’s a cancer that needs more research, I think it’s very underserved on the fund-raising front,” he said. “Very often, as with John, the worst part is that when you find you’ve got it, it’s too late. So the charity is great: not only does it fund research, but importantly it also helps families who are hit by the cyclone, as it were. It gets their affairs in order, and helps families that are basically in bits.”

By a macabre coincidence, John’s brother in-law succumbed to the same condition, no less suddenly, within a year.

“There he was, giving a speech at John’s funeral, and little did he know it was brewing inside him too,” said Hills. “So that was bonkers, really. So I wanted to do something for what is obviously a very good cause.”

Hills reckons to have totted up around 1,000 miles over the past year in preparation. “It’s all been very new experience to me,” he said. “There have been a few niggles along the way, but the main thing has been the incredible time commitment. I knew I’d have to train, but I never realised how many hours it would take. I’ve done several half-marathons, and gone up to 18 or 19 miles, but that takes three hours and I’ve two young kids, and you’re knocked over at night.

“Obviously there’s a bit of boredom on the road, you have to keep your mind working, and I still can’t work out which of the five or six pairs of trainers I’ve been using is most comfortable. But I’ve got a couple of days to get myself in order after the flight, I’ll have a light breeze in Hyde Park on Friday and that’ll be it.”

Hills’s first goal is to beat the time of 4:55.59 achieved by his brother Charlie in 2014–and their father Barry, planning to ensconce himself in the Turf Club to watch the race on television, will doubtless have a dry quip or two ready, for one or the other, on that account–but his real priority is the 4:30 mark. “I’ve a few people who have committed to £100 per minute under 4:40,” Hills said. “It’ll be nice to get it over and done with, though I think I might miss it in some ways.”

But that verb applies above all to John, who was just 53 when he died. An unfailingly kind man, his premier legacy as a trainer was Oaks runner-up Wind In Her Hair (Ire) (Alzao), subsequently celebrated as the dam of Deep Impact (Jpn) (Sunday Silence).

“Yes, we all miss him so much,” Hills said. “It was so sad, everything was on the up for him when he went. He was a great people person and you never heard a bad word about him.”

Donations to support Hills can be made by clicking here.

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